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Torre Says No to Yankees’ Offer and Ends 12-Year Era

Joe Torre, who cast a large shadow over the Yankees the past 12 seasons, stunned the team when he rejected its offer for a new contract.Credit
Ruby Washington/The New York Times

It was the longest-running and most successful show in the Bronx in decades, running from 1996 through 2007 and stretching into October every season. By the end, it was playing to sold-out crowds almost nightly, and there were moments of magic that may never be repeated.

But the curtain fell on the Joe Torre Era yesterday when Torre, who will someday enter the Hall of Fame for his work as the Yankees’ manager, rejected the team’s one-year contract offer to stay. The Yankees said they would begin a search for a new manager.

Torre flew to Tampa, Fla., yesterday to meet with the team’s principal owner, George Steinbrenner, after two days of organizational meetings had ended with no announcement. The Yankees offered Torre $5 million, but he could have earned an additional $3 million — and a guaranteed $8 million salary in 2009 — if he had led the Yankees to the World Series next season.

The salary would have kept Torre as the highest-paid manager in the majors, but the guaranteed portion would have represented a cut from his present salary, which averaged $6.4 million over the last three seasons. In each year of that contract, the Yankees lost in the first round of the playoffs.

“It’s no one person’s fault that we didn’t win the World Series; it’s collectively all our fault,” the Yankees’ president, Randy Levine, said. “His contract was over. Obviously, the manager, like all of us, has a responsibility. All of us have the same goal. That goal wasn’t met.

“Yet we recognize the stature of the manager. Under this offer, he would continue to be the highest-paid manager in all of baseball, with an opportunity to make more if, in fact, we made it to the World Series.”

Torre has long understood the expectations of Steinbrenner, who, at 77, is ceding more control to his sons, Hank and Hal. Incentives tied to the team’s performance were also included in the contract he signed after the 2001 World Series.

But Torre had never worked for the Yankees under a one-year deal.

After turning down the offer Torre returned to his Westchester home, where last night his wife, Ali, said that he would hold a news conference today at a local hotel. Torre, 67, said after the division series loss to Cleveland last week that he was not ready to stop working.

“I don’t think the flame is out for Joe,” Larry Bowa, the Yankees’ third base coach, said yesterday. “I think he wants to manage somewhere.”

Brian Cashman, the Yankees’ general manager, said he had told Torre what kind of offer the Yankees were preparing, and Torre suggested to Cashman that he fly down to meet with the Steinbrenners in person.

Bowa said he was surprised that Torre would fly to Tampa if he knew he was going to reject the Yankees’ offer, echoing a widely held sentiment. But Cashman said Torre was undecided.

“I asked him on the plane down, and I asked him last night on the phone where his mind was at, and he honestly didn’t know,” Cashman said. “And I can honestly represent to you that on that plane today flying down, and when we were getting off the plane, I was uncertain what direction this was going to go.”

Torre met with Steinbrenner; his sons, Hank and Hal; Levine; Cashman and perhaps others at Legends Field. Hal Steinbrenner explained the rationale behind the offer, which was nonnegotiable. Calmly, Torre considered the offer and said he simply could not accept it.

“Joe was very respectful,” Levine said. “He was the dignified man he’s been since all of us have known him. There was no acrimony.”

Steinbrenner had publicly threatened to dismiss Torre if he did not guide the Yankees out of the first round.

But Hal Steinbrenner said that declaration played no role in the team’s discussions over the last few days.

The biggest factor in formulating the offer, Hal said, is that the Yankees, their fans, and their business partners expect to win the World Series, and Torre had not done so since 2000. Hank Steinbrenner explained that mandate, using the same kind of football analogies his father has used.

“The point is, the objective of the Yankees since the ’20s has been to win a championship every year, just like the objective of Lombardi with the Packers or Belichick with the Patriots,” Hank Steinbrenner said.

“Our goal is to win it every single year, even though we know, obviously, you can’t win it every single year. But nothing less than a championship is considered really acceptable.”

Torre is second among Yankees managers in victories, with 1,173, and he guided the Yankees to the playoffs in each of his 12 seasons. Yet simply making the playoffs is the minimum expectation for the Yankees, who won the World Series in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000, and lost it in 2001 and 2003.

That early success, and Torre’s popularity among players, reporters and fans, made him all but bulletproof, even to an owner who habitually changed managers before Torre arrived.

Torre’s last contract was a reward for the success of those pennant-winning teams. Because his last three seasons finished so poorly, yesterday’s offer was for less guaranteed money, even though pay cuts in baseball are rare.

“We kind of thought something was going to happen after we didn’t win,” left fielder Johnny Damon said last night. “They gave Joe an opportunity, but with a pay cut and with the pressure that, if you win, here’s more money — which was pretty decent.

“But he’d have had to deal with the same thing he dealt with this year. Maybe Joe just didn’t feel like it anymore.”

Scott Boras, the agent for Damon and Alex Rodriguez, told The Associated Press that Torre would have lost respect among the players if he had taken a pay cut.

“It is difficult, near impossible, to accept a salary cut,” Boras said. “Successful people can afford their principles. They understand if they accept the position, there is a great risk the message to all under him is dissatisfaction.”

Torre’s future is not considered a factor in whether Rodriguez returns to the Yankees, but it could play into the decisions of Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte. All three are loyal to Torre and can be free agents this winter.

“You’re just hoping it doesn’t change the feelings that Posada and Mariano have,” Damon said. “Joe’s been the only manager they’ve known, with the exception of Buck Showalter for a year. It’s definitely going to be strange.”

Damon said he hoped the Yankees would hire the bench coach, Don Mattingly, because it would ease the transition from Torre. Like Torre, Mattingly commands respect as a former most valuable player yet can still relate to all kinds of players.

Mattingly has never managed, but his agent, Ray Schulte, said this week that he would be ready for the job. Yesterday, Schulte said the Yankees had not contacted Mattingly, who wanted to reserve comment until Torre speaks publicly.

The YES broadcaster Joe Girardi, who managed the Florida Marlins in 2006, is another candidate, but Mattingly has long been the favorite of Steinbrenner. Tony La Russa, who was rumored as a possible replacement last week, is close to re-signing with the St. Louis Cardinals.

“We will start assembling what we think is the best fit for managing the Yankees,” Cashman said. “I will discuss potential candidates with ownership, and I can promise that the process is going to take some time. I ask for everybody’s patience as we review and interview the individuals and make recommendations to ownership.”

The only criterion, Cashman said, is that the new manager can lead the Yankees to a title. Torre did that four times, and the Yankees offered significant financial incentive for him to do so again. But Torre said no, and an era is over.

A version of this article appears in print on , on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Torre Rejects Contract Offer From Yankees. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe